Hawkish US Cold War strategist and top Carter aide Brzezinski dies

Published May 27, 2017
This file photo taken on October 22, 2013 shows former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (L) listening during a forum discussion at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. — AFP
This file photo taken on October 22, 2013 shows former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (L) listening during a forum discussion at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. — AFP

Zbigniew Brzezinski, a hawkish Cold War strategist and former top aide to US president Jimmy Carter, has died at 89, his family said Friday.

“My father passed away peacefully tonight,” MSNBC journalist Mika Brzezinski said on Instagram.

“He was known to his friends as Zbig, to his grandchildren as Chief and to his wife as the enduring love of her life. I just knew him as the most inspiring, loving and devoted father any girl could ever have,” she wrote.

The Polish-born academic was Carter's national security adviser during the Iranian hostage crisis.

He was a leading force behind the failed US commando mission to rescue the hostages, after which he resigned. He thought that Soviet influence would sweep over Iran if US strength did not prevail in the drama.

Nominally a Democrat, he leaned conservative on security matters. He passed away in Falls Church, Virginia, family said.

Brzezinski was an active professor and author well into his 80s.

He did not support President Donald Trump's election, and criticised his foreign policy as vague.

In 2011, he penned “Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power,” arguing that US strength abroad was key to global stability.

But it would depend on America's ability to foster “social consensus and democratic stability” at home, he said, referring to the need for less income inequality and a meaningful response to climate change.

He developed his ties to Carter on the Trilateral Commission, the group David Rockefeller created in 1973 as a forum for political and business leaders from North America, Western Europe and Japan. Brzezinski was the commission's first director.

Opinion

Editorial

Ultimate price
Updated 02 Nov, 2024

Ultimate price

To dismantle culture of impunity for crimes against journalists, state must ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
Mastung bombing
02 Nov, 2024

Mastung bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine...
Plane speak
02 Nov, 2024

Plane speak

DESPITE all its efforts to facilitate PIA’s privatisation, it seems the government only ended up being taken for a...
Seeking investment
Updated 01 Nov, 2024

Seeking investment

Foreign visits will be fruitless unless crucial structural, policy reforms directly affecting investors are focused.
State-backed terror
01 Nov, 2024

State-backed terror

OVER the past year or so, India’s reportedly malign activities in foreign countries have increasingly come under the radar, with
Shared crisis
01 Nov, 2024

Shared crisis

WITH Lahore experiencing unprecedented levels of smog, the Punjab government has announced a series of “green...